What Will Happen To Charlie Gard After Parents End Legal Battle?

Judge Francis had been due to rule on whether there was enough new evidence to allow the parents to take the baby, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder, to the U.S. for a type of treatment that has never been used on a human being.

The couple have maintained that a hospice was a second option to bringing their son, who is now hooked up to an artificial ventilator, home. The physical lay-out of the route between the ambulance on the pavement and their home would require Charlie to be taken off the ventilator and provided with only "hand-bagging" until he was inside.

Their lengthy legal battle with Great Ormond Street Hospital to allow their dying son to travel for the treatment has been the subject of debate and extensive media coverage.

On the one hand, he told the High Court, the hospital says that "it won't stand in the parents' way yet it is putting obstacles in..." The hospital had suggested a hospice option.

Connie Yates was in the London High Court for a hearing before Judge Nicholas Francis. But so far attempts to find agreement have failed.

"A lot of things have been said, particularly in recent days, by those who know nearly nothing about this case but who feel entitled to express opinions".

"I will make my final decision tomorrow unless something completely new comes up", he said.

The youngster was born a healthy baby but doctors discovered he had a rare inherited disease called infantile onset encephalomyopathy mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome (MDDS). He has brain damage and is unable to breathe unaided.

Some commentators portrayed the case as a clash between family and the state, and USA conservatives used it to criticize Britain's government-funded health care system.

Their barrister Grant Armstrong told the court: "This case is now about time".

Offers of help for Charlie came from Dr. Michio Hirano, a neurology expert at New York's Columbia Medical Center and from the Vatican's Babino Gesu pediatric hospital. The parents pleaded with the court to let them take Charlie to the US for experimental treatment. Above all, GOSH wants to fulfil that last wish and has considered it very carefully.

"If we are concerned with the language of rights, it is, of course, children who have rights; any rights that parents have exist only to protect their children's rights", Kennedy concluded.